


Stranger Than Fiction

by Mythical-Ross (ScorchedAngel)



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Bad Decisions, Co-workers, M/M, Non-AU AU, Public Display of Affection, Rule 12 - Never Date a Co-Worker, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:41:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22188796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScorchedAngel/pseuds/Mythical-Ross
Summary: AU where the Rhett and Link story is all fiction and a team of writers keeps them right at all times. As things start to unravel around them, they realise they both have one other person in their life who understands what they’re goingThe actors playing Rhett & Link start to become restless. Just when they think it might be time to put an end to the whole charade, they find a reason to stick around a little bit longer.
Relationships: Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal
Comments: 14
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alderdash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alderdash/gifts).



> Thank you to my muse, @Alderdash for planting the seeds that became this fic. The co-parent of this evil baby.
> 
> For the record... I’ve been working on this for months and then today (9th Jan) R&L posted an Insta video with this premise! Hopefully they finish up in the same place as I did!

Rhett ran down the corridor towards the studio, calling after Link, "hey, wait up!".

Link turned and slowed when he saw Rhett approaching. "Running late?" he said, raising an eyebrow at Rhett’s appearance. 

Rhett couldn't blame him. He was still carrying his coat and bag and he'd just thrown on the same clothes he'd been wearing yesterday, which Link was bound to notice. He had left home five minutes late but hit the rush hour traffic, making him a half hour late. "Yeah I uh... slept in," he said sheepishly.

Link gave him a knowing look. "You can't sleep in if you never go to bed," he said, before adding with a grin. "What would your wife say?"

"Alright, alright," Rhett said, rolling his eyes. "What can I say? I like to give make-up a challenge."

Link smiled as they continued towards their dressing rooms. They walked in silence, nodding acknowledgement at the crew members rushing past them. "Traffic's always worse in this time of year, huh?" Link muttered, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"School traffic I guess," Rhett said, and checked his phone absent-mindedly. The silence was deafening. Rhett couldn't help feeling like Link was silently judging him. So what if he'd been out the night before and didn't get home till 3am? It didn't affect their work, it was none of Link's business. 

Rhett breathed a sigh of relief when he slipped through the door of his dressing room with a quick "see you later" to Link. He quickly changed into the jeans and colourful shirt someone had left out for him before collapsing into the chair in front of the mirror and trying to fix his hair. Anna the makeup artist would be along soon to help him cover up the bags under his eyes and he could put last night behind him.

He headed out to the set and found Link sitting at the desk. Stevie greeted him with a warm smile, but she was too busy to talk and sent him to join Link at the desk. He followed Link's lead and pulled his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through twitter, not really taking anything in.

"Any plans for the weekend?" Rhett said conversationally. 

"Not really," Link shrugged, not looking up from his phone. "You?"

"My brother's in town," Rhett said, "I'm gonna show him the sights."

"That sounds nice," Link said, giving him a small smile.

"Yeah," Rhett said, flattening down the front of his shirt behind the desk. He sighed out a breath and went back to playing with his phone. Mercifully, Morgan soon announced they were ready to start. 

Filming went smoothly but after 9 seasons they were all experts. It was obvious to everyone that he and Link had great on-screen chemistry, and when they knew what to say, they could talk for hours. 

"Great guys," Morgan said, approaching the desk. "There's just one more thing we need to do before the wheel." 

Rhett couldn't help cringing. He was constantly messing up and requiring reshoots.

"We think you got the name of the guy you beat up wrong," Morgan said, not sounding too bothered. "Eddie's just gone to get the book to double check." 

"John Carson," Link said confidently. "You called him Joe." 

"Sorry," Rhett said, looking especially at Link. He hated being held back and Rhett didn't particularly want to piss him off. 

"It's fine," Link shrugged.

Memorising names and dates had never been Rhett’s forte. When he'd taken this job no one had warned him quite how intense it would become. They'd expected to be finished after a year or two and go back to their lives, but it had become a whole mixed media art project. They were getting recognised much more frequently these days and it meant being “in character” even when he wasn’t at work and he’d never been especially good at improv either. 

After reshoots to cover Rhett’s mistakes and a quick episode of More, they were released for lunch with strict instructions to be on the Office set at 2pm sharp. Link usually went out for lunch but Rhett preferred to eat with the crew. 

He slid into a seat beside Stevie at the large shared table in the break room and set his lunch down. “Hey pretty lady, wanna go see a movie with me tonight?” 

Stevie laughed and pushed him away playfully. “I can’t tonight, I have a date.”

“A date with a handsome co-worker?” Rhett pushed.

“You’re not my type. Or vice versa.”

“True,” Rhett grinned, “But I still haven’t seen Lala Land and people won’t stop going on about it.”

“Link said he wanted to see it, why don’t you ask him?” Stevie said, sounding vaguely hopeful. She was constantly suggesting they hang out together outside their regular, officially sanctioned ‘friendship dates’.

Rhett hesitated. “Just the two of us?” he said sceptically. “What would we talk about?”

Stevie gave a loud sigh. “Plenty of things. You work together, you grew up within 20 miles of each other, you have the same taste in music… you play best friends on the internet half your lives. You really can’t spend ten minutes together in a movie theatre while you wait for a movie to start?” 

“When you put it like that it does sound dumb,” Rhett admitted. “But I always feel like I’m boring him when we’re alone together.”

“Just ask him,” Stevie instructed. 

After lunch Rhett found himself sitting with Link on the brown leather couch in their ‘office’ while equipment was set up around them. They’d been given 4 inserts to film for upcoming GMM episodes and were trying to do them all within the next hour, including wardrobe changes.

Rhett tried to decide how to broach the subject without sounding weird. “Have you seen Lala Land?” he said casually.

“Nope,” Link said, staring at his phone.

“I was thinking of going to see it tonight. You wanna come?” 

Link looked up, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “What, just us?”

“Uh, yeah,” Rhett replied, already regretting his decision to ask him. “If you can’t go it’s okay,” he added quickly.

“No, I can go,” Link said. “Um, yeah. Why not?” 

“Okay, cool,” Rhett said. “I’ll check the time and text you the details?”

“Cool,” Link said.

They went back to sitting in silence while the crew worked around them.

Rhett was embarrassed to realise he didn’t actually have Link’s phone number. He sheepishly asked Stevie who was more than happy to give it to him. “I’m glad you’re doing this,” she said encouragingly. “It’ll be good for you!”

“Maybe,” Rhett said. He was already making a mental list of things to talk about if it got too awkward. He text Link the details, half expecting a “Who is this?” in response, and went back to his dressing room to collect his stuff.

At least he would get to see the movie.

-o-o-

Rhett waited outside the movie theatre, looking out for Link. When he saw him approaching, Rhett gave a small wave before stuffing his hands in his pockets. He was surprised to see Link was wearing his glasses. He hardly ever wore them when they weren’t on camera - perhaps he was planning some ‘candid’ selfies.

“Hey,” Rhett said, smiling.

“Hey,” Link replied. “Nice shirt.”

“Heh, thanks,” Rhett grinned. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

Without speaking, they went inside and joined the ticket queue. 

“I was a little surprised when you asked me here,” Link said as they waited in line. 

“Really?” Rhett said. So was he…

“Yeah. Isn’t this a little… wholesome for you?” Link said, nudging Rhett playfully. 

“I don’t go out to clubs every night you know,” Rhett said defensively.

“Relax, I’m just kidding,” Link grinned. 

“Oh,” Rhett said, looking around at the other people in line. “What’s with the glasses?” he asked, nodding at Link’s face.

Link shrugged. “Figured it would be better to stay in character while we’re out together.” 

“I guess.”

Rhett paid for their tickets and snacks and they made their way into the mostly empty theatre. The movie had already been out for a while so there were only a few other groups of people there. 

As soon as they sat down, Rhett shoved a handful of popcorn in his mouth. “I’ve brushed my teeth like, four times but I still can’t get the taste of Salmon roe out of my mouth.”

“Oh my god, I know,” Link laughed. “It didn’t seem too bad at the time but it’s really lingered!”

“They’re getting worse,” Rhett grinned.

When the lights went down and the commercials started, Rhett pulled out his phone to make sure it was on vibrate. His eyes were drawn to Link’s phone as he followed suit. Rhett couldn’t help noticing a notification on the home screen. “Have you been speaking to Tom?”

Link quickly turned off the screen and looked away. The only time Rhett ever talked to their agent was every two years when their contract was due for renewal and they still had about six months left before that would happen. 

“Um, yeah,” Link said, attempting to sound nonchalant.

“What about?” Rhett said. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but he could only think of a few reasons for Link to be in contact with Tom.

“Can we talk about it later?” Link said in a hushed voice. 

Rhett glanced at the other patrons in the theatre. No one seemed to be paying them any attention, but you could never be sure. “Have you been looking at other projects?” he whispered.

“Look Rhett, this wasn’t my idea,” Link whispered back. “Tom just called me one day out of the blue saying he thought I’d be perfect for this movie role…”

“A movie?” Rhett said, a little louder. “You’d give all this up?”

Link laughed bitterly. “Wouldn’t you?” He put his hand up to stop Rhett answering. “It doesn’t matter anyway, they’d need me too soon… if I even got the part.”

“Okay,” Rhett said, unsatisfied with Link’s answer. They both knew they couldn’t do this forever, but finding out Link was considering moving on was like a kick in the balls. 

“Please don’t worry about this, it’s nothing,” Link said. “I’m perfectly happy for now.”

Rhett didn’t feel all that reassured, but he let it drop. They had never really discussed how long they’d be willing to go on like this but he always thought he’d be the one to pull the plug. He got recognised more often than Link and it had always been harder on his family… he assumed Link was doing okay. Maybe if Link would talk to him about something other than the weather and weekend plans he’d have had more of a clue.


	2. Chapter 2

Rhett had been going to the same gay bar for the past two months and it had been working well for him. He always drew attention in a place like this - he’d gone home with someone different almost every time, but he wasn’t looking for anything serious right now. Once he’d even been recognized and just went with it, pretending he was bicurious and stepping out on his wife. Probably not great for their image but he’d never seen or heard from the guy again so it didn’t matter.

He sat at a high table near the bar with his latest conquest. The guy was tall with black scruff covering the lower half of his face. A little more masculine than Rhett would usually go for, but hot as hell and super friendly.

“Do you have any famous friends?” the guy, Irwin asked.

“Don’t I count?” Rhett laughed. “I get recognized all the time!” 

Irwin turned up his nose. “If I don’t recognize you, it doesn’t count.” 

“Well that’s hardly fair,” Rhett said, swatting at the guy’s forearm. “It’s not my fault if you’re some philistine that’s never watched YouTube.” Rhett took a sip of his bourbon and glanced around the bar. It was starting to fill up but was still comfortable. The buzz of the people around him was mixing nicely with the buzz of the alcohol.

Irwin said something Rhett didn’t hear, too distracted by the man he’d just spotted sitting alone in a booth across the bar. “What is he doing here?” Rhett muttered to himself.

Irwin paused mid-sentence. “Something wrong?” he said, trying to find Rhett’s line of vision.

“No,” Rhett said quickly, “I just saw my partner over there.”

“Partner?”

“Work partner,” Rhett clarified. What the hell was Link doing here? Spying on him?

“Oh,” Irwin said. “Well… aren’t you going to go say hello?”

“I guess,” Rhett said. It would look weird if he didn’t but if Link hadn’t seen him, it would be better to try and sneak out. He looked at Irwin who was regarding him curiously. “I’ll be right back,” Rhett said apologetically. He gave Irwin a quick look up and down before adding, “don’t go anywhere.”

Irwin shrugged and held up his drink. Rhett got the impression he wouldn’t hang around long after his glass was empty.

Rhett approached Link’s table, half hoping he would just ignore him. As soon as Link saw him, however his face lit up in a why Rhett had never seen when they weren’t on camera.

“Rhett!” he said, too cheerfully.

“Hey man,” Rhett said, sliding into the booth beside him. “I didn’t expect to see  _ you _ here _.” _

“Well I heard you talking about this place with Stevie and I thought it sounded nice, and maybe I should give it a shot,” Link said, with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Here,” he said, sliding a shot glass towards Rhett. “I accidentally ordered one too many. Help me out.”

Rhett glanced at the shots line up in front of Link. He’d ordered more than one too many. Rhett pulled the shot towards him and looked at the yellow liquid. “What is this?”

Link drummed his hands rhythmically on the table and exclaimed “Tequila!” with a flourish.

Rhett rarely saw Link outside work, and never this animated. The shot in front of him was looking more and more inviting.

Link picked up the next glass in his queue and held it up to Rhett. “Dink it,” he instructed in a sing-song voice.

Rhett relented and held up his glass to Link’s. Link clinked them together - less carefully than on GMM. “And sink it,” Rhett said, much to Link’s delight.

They threw back the shots in unison and Link gave a “whoop!” that was loud enough to turn a few heads.

Before Link could pass him another shot, Rhett placed a hand on his wrist. Link looked up curiously, but he didn’t seem bothered by the physical contact. “Link…” Rhett started, but hesitated. This was bound to lead to an awkward conversation he didn’t really want to have. “You know this is a gay bar, right?”

“Rhett!” Link gripped his chest and gasped in mock surprise. “After 32 years of friendship, this is how I found out you’re gay?” He giggled at his own joke and started arranging the filled glasses in front of him, sliding a couple towards Rhett. 

Rhett didn’t speak, hoping Link would fill in the gaps. They’d drank together before at public events, but they always had a limit in case one of them let something slip. He’d never seen Link like  _ this. _ Clearly something was going on.

Link picked up another shot and nodded towards Rhett’s.

“What are you doing here?” Rhett asked, ignoring the silent instruction.

“I told you,” Link said, still holding the glass, “it sounded fun.”

“Uh-huh…” Rhett said skeptically. “You know, if you come alone to a gay bar, people are going to assume you’re here to meet someone.”

“I met you!”

“I’m here to meet someone else,” Rhett said. He looked at the table where he’d left Irwin and found him chatting up some skinny blonde in a leather jacket.

“Noooo, stay with meeee,” Link said, giggling some more.

“Link…”

“You’re my  _ best friend!” _

“Link!”

Link hesitated. “Lisa broke up with me.”

“Oh.” There it was. Did Rhett know Link’s girlfriend was called Lisa? “Damn man, I’m sorry.”

Link gave a shrug. His shoulders seemed to slump lower than before. “I thought she was the one,” he said, his tone considerably more subdued all of a sudden. “I thought she understood what she was getting into.”

Without thinking, Rhett placed his hand on Link’s thigh. When all this started, and people became curious about their personal lives, they’d agreed to avoid any long-term dating for a while. But it kept stretching longer and longer and that didn’t seem like an option anymore. Rhett had been happy to stick to casual flings, but Link seemed to want more. He’d had a few girlfriends over the years but this one had lasted a lot longer than the others.

It still didn’t answer the question of why Link was  _ here, _ but Rhett decided not to push it. 

“That really sucks,” he said, giving Link’s thigh a gentle squeeze. “What happened? You seemed happy.”

“She said she didn’t want to compete with my wife,” Link said bitterly.

“Your wife,” Rhett scoffed. Link had been lucky enough to find a fake wife that he’d already been friends with for half his life. In reality, Christy was probably Link’s real best friend, but it was always 100% platonic. “Speaking of which, wouldn’t you rather talk to her about this?”

Link leaned in conspiratorially. “I didn’t think that would be a very good idea right now,” he said quietly, and then laughed.

Rhett laughed along with him but had no idea why that was funny. He was already more involved than he wanted to be and realizing now how pathetic Link looked, Rhett decided to try and do this right. “Look,” he said, “let me take these shots away…” He carefully picked up the five remaining shots with little protest from Link. “And I’ll get us a beer and we can talk it through. Okay?”

“Corona!” Link commanded, and giggled again.

Rhett almost didn’t think he should leave him alone like this, but at least he didn’t have to go far. He handed shot glasses to a few random strangers on his way past and ordered two beers at the bar.

As he waited, Irwin sidled up beside him.

“All done?”

“‘Fraid not,” Rhett said, glancing back at Link. “Bigger problems than I thought.”

“That’s a real shame,” Irwin said. “I was really looking forward to getting to know you better.”

“Fuck,” Rhett muttered under his breath as Irwin walked off, already making eye contact with a guy across the room.

“That your date?” Link said as Rhett sat back down. 

“We just met,” Rhett shrugged, “but it was headed that way.”

“Sorry,” Link said, turning his bottle in his hands.

“Maybe next time,” Rhett said.

Link visibly brightened at that. “Yeah! Next time!”

Rhett smiled at him and took a sip of his beer.

“I want to try and be more like you,” Link announced suddenly, slapping his hand on the table for emphasis. 

Rhett jumped, but couldn’t help laughing at his enthusiasm. “More like  _ me?”  _ he grinned. “How’s that gonna help?” Link was constantly passing comment on Rhett’s lifestyle. Judging him for staying out all night, sleeping with a different guy every weekend, going out drinking on weeknights…

“You have fun!” Link said, banging the table again. “I want to have some fun. Don’t I deserve to have fun?”

“Of course you do,” Rhett said, scooting closer on the bench seat. He swallowed hard before adding, “Shouldn’t you wait a little while before trying to find someone new?”

“Nah,” Link said, “I’m ready now!” He practically shouted the last word.

“Heh, okay.”

“Let’s find me a date.”

“Here?”

“Yeah, here. Why not?”

Rhett laughed and gestured around the room. “It’s a gay bar.”

Link shrugged. “So?”

“You’re straight.”

“No I’m not,” Link shrugged. “Aren’t you supposed to be my best friend?”

Rhett raised an eyebrow. As long as Rhett had known Link, he’d never given the impression he was anything other than completely straight. He’d always had girlfriends and never shown any interest in men. The more he learned about Link, the more interesting he became. “So you’re what… bi? You never told me that.”

Link shrugged again. “What about that guy?” he said, indicating a bear of a man standing nearby with a group of people. “Do you have any idea how awesome it feels to get a rim-job from a guy with a beard?”

Rhett almost choked. He wasn’t sober enough to deal with this. Or drunk enough. “I’ve heard,” he said eventually. 

“Or him!” Link said. He was pointing at a tall guy with light brown hair and a beard. “He’s just my type.”

Rhett couldn’t help the thrill that ran through him. Was Link trying to flirt with him? Was he Link’s ‘type’ all along? Because Link was definitely his...

“Why don’t we just talk for a while,” Rhett suggested, taking a large gulp of his beer. 

Link gave him an uncertain look, but said “fine.” He followed Rhett’s example and took a sip of his beer. “How do you do it?” he said, appearing to sober suddenly.

“Do what?”

“Dating. Or not dating,” Link said. “Why doesn’t any of this seem to bother you?”

Rhett laughed humourlessly. “Of course it bothers me. You think I expected to be pushing 40 and still having one night stands?” He shrugged. “This is just the rhythm I’ve gotten myself into.” It was easier this way. Easier than trying to introduce someone else to the weird world they lived in. “At least it’s fun,” he added.

“I just don’t know how much longer I can go on like this,” Link sighed. “Choosing work over love was okay when we were younger but....” He let the sentence trail off and looked up at Rhett.

Rhett shuffled closer again. It was getting louder and their conversation was getting quieter, but also, he was enjoying the heat of Link’s body against his own. “I think for now, ‘fun’ is the best we can do.”

Link nodded. He wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or the close contact, but Rhett was hyper-aware of Link at that moment. He had gotten used to his scent over the years, but being this close really amplified it. Was it natural? Usually, when they were sitting close together it was on set and Link was wearing glasses. Staring into his eyes, unhindered by frames or lenses was, frankly, breathtaking. 

Rhett mentally shook himself. This was  _ Link _ for crying out loud. 

Link wasn’t speaking, just looking Rhett over with equal scrutiny. Rhett would never have claimed to know how Link thinks, but suddenly he was even more of a mystery.

“Do you wanna have some fun Rhett?” Link said eventually.

God help him, he did. How could something that didn’t seem like an option half an hour ago suddenly be the thing he wanted most? 

Rhett moved without thinking. He grabbed a fistful of Link’s shirt and pulled them together. He pressed his mouth to Link’s, already open and desperate. 

Link didn’t even pretend to resist. Rhett had heard him voice his distaste at public displays of affection on more than one occasion, so he was surprised at how easily he gave himself over. He forced his tongue into Link’s mouth, trying to assert some semblance of dominance. Link tasted mostly of alcohol and something else that was undeniably  _ Link _ .

Link’s hands were immediately on him, one hand going for his hair and the other to his waist. Link had never touched him for anything other than comedic effect. In fact Rhett had never seen him touch  _ anyone _ before. Link’s hands were forceful and rough, not like a man used to kissing only women.

Rhett couldn’t help responding in kind. He gripped a handful of the hair on the back of Link’s head and yanked it back, exposing Link’s long neck. He practically attacked it, more tongue than lips, wrenching a loud moan from Link. Rhett wondered absently if Link was being intentionally loud to be heard over the sounds of the bar. He could feel Link’s adam’s apple moving under his tongue and suddenly realized how badly he’d always wanted to do this.

A wolf-whistle from a nearby table alerted Rhett to the significant number of people watching them. Hopefully none of them watched much YouTube.

“Wanna come to my place?” Rhett said. He wondered if this was all a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing or if Link would still want him when they left the bar.

“Yeah,” Link said eagerly. “Let’s go.”


End file.
